Vietnam Mango and Passion Fruit Seasons: A Sourcing Calendar for Frozen Fruit Buyers

Fresh fruit buyers live by the harvest. Frozen fruit buyers can plan around it. IQF mango and passion fruit are frozen soon after cutting and held at −18 °C, so an importer in Rotterdam or Chicago can draw the same specification in February as in May. The calendar still matters. It decides when raw fruit is plentiful, when the best lots come in and when production slots fill up.

Mango: one main crop and an off-season that runs for months

Most Vietnamese mango comes from the Mekong Delta. Dong Thap is the largest growing province, and Cat Chu covers about 60 percent of its mango area. The main season there runs from April to May.

Growers also bring trees into flower outside the main season. Cat Chu can be harvested three times a year, one main crop and two off-season crops, and the off-season harvest runs roughly from September to March. For a frozen program this means raw fruit arrives in waves, not once a year. Our Cat Chu and Kaew mango pages list the cuts and Brix we work to.

Passion fruit: a long season in the Central Highlands

Vietnam grows about 12,600 hectares of passion fruit and produces more than 178,500 tonnes a year. The Central Highlands hold over 88 percent of the planted area, and Gia Lai alone has 5,650 hectares. Vines fruit through most of the year, and export availability usually peaks from April to September. We freeze purple passion fruit from this region, cut to order. The frozen passion fruit page has the specification.

What the calendar means for your frozen order

• Book peak-season production early. If you want mango packed from the April–May crop, send the specification and volume by February so the line and cold storage can be planned.
• Keep one specification all year. Variety, cut, Brix minimum and packing should not change with the season. Ask for each lot to be checked against the same sheet.
• Let cold storage do the buffering. IQF fruit keeps for 24 months at −18 °C, so a six-month contract can ship monthly from fruit packed at the peak.
• Fill the container with more than one fruit. Frozen mango and passion fruit travel at the same temperature, so both can share one reefer when neither alone fills it. The IQF frozen fruit range shows what else can join the load.

Plan your next program

Send the fruit, cut, Brix, packing, monthly volume and destination port to export@tbesfood.com, or message +84 932 072 978 on WhatsApp. We reply with a specification sheet, a production slot and a shipping schedule. Importing for the first time? Start with our EU or U.S. importer guide.

Sources: Viet Nam News, passion fruit production; Viet Nam News, Dong Thap mango season; FreshPlaza, Dong Thap mango varieties; Tuoi Tre, off-season mango; ACIAR, Mekong Delta mango study; Commodity Board, passion fruit availability.